drongo
/ˈdrɒŋɡəʊ
/noun (plural drongos or drongoes)
1A songbird with glossy black plumage and typically a long forked tail and a crest, found in Africa, southern Asia, and Australia.
- Family Dicruridae and genus Dicrurus: several species.
- I'd never seen anything like it, yet it behaved exactly as, and in every other respect was typical of a drongo, fork tail and all.
- Flocks of wintering water birds include the thrush, the kingfisher, the robin, the shama, the barbet, the bee-eater, the flycatcher, the sunbird, the bulbul and the drongo.
2 informal, chiefly Australian /NZ A stupid or incompetent person: I gave that drongo fifty dollars and he only gave me change for ten!...
- They wanted me to go along, the same as a few other drongos might do so, and just say, ‘Let's run around and look at the kerb-side collection, ‘rather than looking at the real issue and that is what is being collected.
- He will not be amused at being associated with such a pack of drongos and losers.
- Justice will be done - except to us drongoes who pay taxes.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from Malagasy. sense 2 is said to be from the name of an Australian racehorse of the 1920s which consistently finished last or near last.